Fr. Ekweli and Seminarian Andrew were kidnapped from the Priests’ rectory of St. Peter Catholic Church Iviukhua-Agenebode, Etsako East Local Government Area (LGA) of Edo State when gunmen attacked both the rectory and church, destroyed doors and windows and led them into the surrounding forests.
In the March 14 statement, Fr. Egielewa says that the Local Ordinary of Auchi Diocese, Bishop Gabriel Ghiakhomo Dunia, has expressed “gratitude to all for the prayers and moral support received while Fr Ekweli and the Seminarian were held in captivity.”
Bishop Ghiakhomo has called on the Nigerian State and Federal Government as well as the country’s security agencies to “stop the deteriorating security situation in Edo North in particular and other parts of Edo State which has now become a safe haven for kidnappers, operating at will while the people feel helpless and abandoned,” Fr. Fr. Egielewa says.
The Nigerian Catholic Bishop has further urged the government to “take proactive steps to deplore the necessary resources to Edo North to secure lives and property of the people. Life has been hell for our people in recent times.”
“People are not safe on the roads, in their farms, and even in their homes. This is unacceptable when there are elected officials whose duty it is to protect the people,” Fr. Egielewa has quoted the Local Ordinary of Auchi as saying.
The Local Ordinary of Auchi further expresses gratitude to the Edo State Government for their “sincere efforts in seeing the victims rescued, but expresses dissatisfaction with the response of the police in particular in the rescue efforts, urging them to put in place better measures to rescue kidnapped victims rather than leave the entire rescue efforts solely in the hands of family, friends and acquaintances of kidnapped victims.”
In the March 14 statement, Fr. Egielewa laments, “In the last ten years, Auchi Diocese has had six of her Priests kidnapped, tortured and released, three attacked but escaped, and one (Fr Christopher Odia) brutally murdered in 2022 and now Seminarian Andrew Peter also murdered.”
“May the souls of Seminarian Andrew Peter, Fr Christopher Odia, and all those killed by kidnappers in Nigeria through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen,” he implores.
Insecurity is rife in Nigeria, where kidnappings, murder, and other forms of persecution against Christians remain rampant in many parts of the West African country, especially in the north.
On March 5, Fr. Sylvester Okechukwu of the Catholic Diocese of Kafanchan was murdered, a day after his abduction on March 4.
